November, 1^44 



Bellrose: Duck Populations and Kill 



361 



legal bag limit in placing a ceiling on 

 the daily kill per hunter. Few public 

 shooting ground hunters in Illinois are 

 limited in their kill of ducks by the bag 

 limit. But the bag limit is an effective 

 measure in restricting the individual kill 

 of the better hunters at the best Illinois 

 clubs. All evidence points to the proba- 

 bility that in this state it is just as 

 effective in limiting the total kill, for 

 membership in Illinois waterfowl clubs 

 has not materially increased, nor has 

 the hunting intensity increased notice- 

 ably as a result of lowered bag limits. 

 The individual daily bag limit ranks 

 next to limitation of length of season as 

 an effective regulatory measure in 

 management of migratory ducks in 

 Illinois. 



Laws for Depleted Species 



As previously discussed, because of 

 differences in native wariness, feeding, 

 flocking and migrating habits, some 

 kinds of ducks are more readily killed by 

 hunters than others. Some have higher 

 rates of productivity and so can re- 

 cover more quickly from the effects of 

 heavy shooting, drought or other dis- 

 aster. Some are affected more than 

 others by adverse weather conditions. 

 Because of differences in numbers or in 

 attractiveness to hunters, as well as in 

 certain habits, some are subject to 

 greater shooting pressure. 



Federal regulations of 1938-1940 re- 

 stricting the daily individual bag of 

 canvasbacks, redheads, ruddy ducks and 

 buffleheads to three alone or in the 

 aggregate ot these species were not very 

 effective in reducing the shooting pres- 

 sure on, or the total kill of, these species 

 in Illinois. 



The shooting pressure quotient on the 

 canvasback was 1.65 in 1938, 1.44 in 

 1939 and 0.63 in 1940, with the restric- 

 tions; 1.47 in 1941 and 1.09 in 1942, 

 without the restrictions, table 8. The 

 shooting pressure quotient on the ruddy 

 was 3.07 in 1938, 2.48 in 1939 and 0.57 

 in 1940, with the restrictions on the 

 take; 0.86 in 1941 and 0.63 in 1942, when 

 there were no such restrictions, table 8. 

 This situation alone does not necessarily 

 mean that in other sections of the United 

 States the restricted limit did not lower 



the total kill of these species, but it 

 indicates that in states where these 

 species made up only a small part of 

 the population, and where no special 



Table 11. — Per cent of bands returned 



from 11 species of ducks within the first 



year after being banded. Ducks were 



banded in the United States and Canada, 



principally since 1938.* 



*To Richard Griffith and Frederick C. Lincoln of 

 the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and to B. W. Cart- 

 wright of Ducks Unlimited (Canada) is due the credit for 

 making banding data available. 



effort was made to bag them, such 

 measures had little effect on the kill. 



Althpugh in certain areas the three 

 per bag limit regulation undoubtedly 

 reduced the kill in those species to 

 which it applied, we wonder if it re- 

 duced the continental take materially. 

 Despite restrictive regulations on the 

 take of redheads in recent years, this 

 species has suffered high shooting losses, 

 table 11. Recent first season band re- 

 turns show that a greater percentage of 

 redheads was taken by hunters than of 

 any other species but the gadwall and 

 shoveler, and banding data on these 

 latter species may not be large enough 

 to be significant. 



Because the wood duck was in a pre- 

 carious position in the early part of this 

 century, it was given complete legal 

 protection in some states by the Mi- 

 gratory Bird Act of 1913. This pro- 

 tection was extended to all states under 

 the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 

 and was in force until 1941, when one 

 wood duck in possession was allowed 

 in 15 states. In 1942 and 1943 one 

 wood duck was permitted in possession 



